Day 19: Not Dancing. Almost

Brazilians have a hard time not dancing when there's music. People love to say this of themselves. What they usually mean is that they tap their toe. Brazilians dance.

Sometimes I play music in class.

I mark the ground where the desks are. By the end of class the desks have always shifted a few inches. On days with music the travel can be measured in feet.

Today Robert wants to play a song after class. It reminds me of a rap rendition of Father Abraham. The tune is trendy enough, but the lyrics play Simon Says with a list of body parts and directions. It's a perfect sucker punch. We'll trick the kids into practicing English.

Unless they wont dance.

As soon as the music starts, twenty girls are glued to the wall. Roberts attempts at coercion result in screams and scattering. He walks away and twenty girls snap back to the safety of their wall by invisible bungee cords. They are flat against the bricks.

But Brazilians have a hard time not dancing when there's music.

They're trying not to, but every now and then something slips out. These intermittent hiccups of dancing have more movement in two dimensions than most dancers can pull off in three.